Electrical energy is the life blood of modern society. However, current systems focus upon maximizing the production of electrical energy solely for certain times of peak consumption and fails to efficiently utilize electrical production capacity outside of those times of peak consumption through the use of storage mechanisms. As such, the need becomes apparent for a means of storing electrical energy in those moments outside of times of peak consumption and to then release the stored energy when demand becomes higher, thereby alleviating energy production demand.
Another important aspect of meeting energy demand, is cost. Energy production costs not only include the costs expended in the generation and storage of power, but also the not so apparent ancillary costs of energy generation and storage on the environment.
A number of systems in the prior art are devised to address some of the known environmental problems with energy generation and storage. Some of these systems includes batteries, flow batteries, fuel cells, super capacitors, superconducting magnetic energy storage, compressed air energy storage, flywheel energy storage, hydroelectric energy storage and gravitational potential energy devices. Each of the abovementioned systems have their advantages and disadvantages. However, capacity and efficiency are limiting factors which reduce the practical utility of most of these systems.
The most common electrical production system which addresses known problems in the art of efficiency and environmental costs is the hydroelectric energy storage system. This system stores energy by pumping water from a lower elevation to a higher elevation (reference to FIG. 1) during periods outside of peak energy demand. During periods of peak energy demand, this system releases the potential energy of the stored water at higher elevation through the use of gravity to drive water through turbines and lower elevation resorvoirs, generating power.
Hydroelectric Energy Storage system addresses the problems of energy capacity, energy efficiency, and ancillary environmental costs, but fails to meet the direct, upfront cost efficiency goals of construction. Furthermore, the Hydroelectric Energy Storage system is limited by the need of a large body of water or a large variation in height. Likewise, other energy storage systems face other inefficiencies.
Conferences considering climate change include the United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference held in Paris, France, from 30 November to 12 December 2015, having, as its objective, the achievement for the first time in over 20 years of UN negotiations, a binding and universal agreement on climate from all nations of the world. Pope Francis concurs in such actions as evidenced by the publication of an encyclical, “Laudato si” which calls for action against climate change with the intention in part to influence the conference. The International Trade Union Conference also follows the goal of the conference to be “zero carbon, zero poverty”. Furthermore quoting from general secretary of that conference “there are no jobs on a dead planet.”
Adverse impact to the environment from energy production is not limited to global warming and pollutions from greenhouse gases and other such pollutants, but also other serious issues such as the risk of exposure and contamination from other sources such as radioactive, chemical and radio frequency sources (Wikipedia—2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference).
Flywheel energy storage can potentially have a high efficiency up to 90%, but maintaining this efficiency over time can be an issue. Moreover, high tech systems with superconducting bearings suffer from flux creep during operation. Accordingly, the need for new energy storage systems that can better store and recover energy still remains.